30: Patrick Ewing

     Patrick Ewing was supposed to be much more than a player, Ewing was supposed to be an era! Many thought Ewing was set to become an evolutionary Russell (like David Robinson was poised to be), a center capable of wreaking havoc on the defensive end as well as the boards. It  never happened... Ewing was a defensive force in his day but nothing compared to Russell, Ewing had a good mid range J, great D, was great on the boards, but never the passer or competitor Russell was. When everyone realized that Ewing was never going to own the league those damn New Yorkers thought it was still going to happen!

     When Patrick Ewing perfected his game as a leader it was a little too late, his athleticism had eroded due to bad knees, but when Pat Riley came to town and turned the New York Knicks into the Boston Bruins of the NBA he almost salvaged Ewing's "Superstar" career. Ewing's limits were hidden by Pat Riley's excellent coaching, NY went to the finals behind Ewing's 22-20-7 and 5 blocks in game seven. Ewing was a powerhouse in many ways (defense, shooting, strength), but a wimpy shack in many others (boards, post game, passing). Ewing hasn't endured duo to a couple reasons, including the fact that he had almost zero charisma, had pitfalls (bad hands, could not pass out of doubles, not aware on the boards, couldn't make his teammates better, and especially his crunch time woes). The thing about Ewing is he reached the finals which was supposed to be his time to shine, but it didn't happen, Hakeem absolutely dismantled Ewing, he put him on a shelf!

On the other hand Ewing was a center you could definitely build a contender around (which NY was), and he would have won a ring if you gave him Reggie Miller for his career instead of John Starks (Maybe even Mitch Richmond!). in the words of the most relevant sportswriter of my lifetime (Bill Simmons) "We'll remember Ewing as a second banana masquerading as a first banana, even if Knicks fans never wanted to admit it at the time. Now they do."